Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Al Hirschfield Theatre
302 West 45th St.
(btwn 8th & 9th Ave.)
Ny NY
Director: Alex Timbers
Writer: John Logan
Cast: Karen Olivo, Aaron Tveit, Danny Burstein, Sahr Ngaujah, Tam Mutu, Ricky Rojas, Robyn Hurder, Amber Ardolino, Jacqueline B. Arnold, Olutayo Bosede, Kyle Brown, Sam J. Cahn, Max Clayton, Karli Dinardo, Aaron C. Finley, Paloma Garcia-Lee, Bahiyah Hibah, Ericka Hunter, Holly James, Evan Kinnane, Reed Luplau, Jeigh Madjus, Morgan Marcell, Caleb Marshall, Brandt Martinez, Jodi McFadden, Kaitlin Mesh, Kevyn Morrow, Fred Odgaard, Dylan Paul, Khori Michelle Petinaud, Benjamin Rivera
Pretty much based on a mundane cliche, the cinematic Moulin Rouge tells of a young naive artistic type who moves to the big city and fall in love with the hooker with a heart of gold; then both deal with triumphs and tragedies. Director Baz Luhrmann’s revolutionary 2001 film transformed this basic story line by using a fictionalized ideation of legendary French artist Toulouse Lautrec as the master boho who initiates the theatrical production at the core of this weird jukebox musical.
Long planned as a live show, it has finally ended up on Broadway as Moulin Rouge! The Musical! remixed into a fresh musical extravaganza promoting, as the poster noted, “Splendor, romance, excess, glitz, grandeur and glory.” It’s all there as it was in the original, but somehow even more so. On stage, there’s much more in-your-face action with cast members striding down the aisles; silver/red confetti showers down on the audiences from time to time; and frenetic activity most of the time.
In its 2 hours and 35 minutes, the staged Moulin Rouge! may not outdo the movie version for its outrageous appropriation of 19th century bohemian life, but it makes up for it in live-action razzmatazz. In this gloriously flashy version, here’s a world where bohos and aristocrats rub elbows while they revel in electrifying song-and-dance. Director Alex Timbers and writer John Logan were savvy enough to open their Broadway adaptation of Moulin Rouge! by using 73 songs cut up in a fascinating rethink in lieu of the original film’s uniquely re-conceived full length covers. But this stunning live show doesn’t blots out the fond memories of Luhrmann’s 2001 movie which starred the sexy, seductive Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor.
In the gaudily adorned Hirschfeld Theatre, audiences are treated to fast-action interplay embraced by the movie’s signature elephant looming over the audience. There’s red-on-red decor and multiple chandeliers, not to mention a garish mockup of the famous Parisian nightclub’s iconic windmill, flashing in lights from a balcony box. Whereas the real grit is replaced by a faux squalor and idealized
roughhewn hipsterdom, the theatrical characters are quite as alluring as the cinematic ones, but this cast has to work really really.
In this turn-of-the-last-century Paris, everyone is resplendent in Catherine Zuber’s divinely decadent costumes as they whirl through Sonya Tayeh’s frenzied dances, frantically trying to get themselves through the night. In this boho Montmartre quarter, “tout le monde” rumbles through, with every manner of character represented here — idealized though they maybe — draped in every kind of cool-cat costumery.
Eager to descend into this exotic world, Christian (Aaron Tveit plays him with a sincere innocent appeal) finds the Four Bad Ass Zaftig Chicks played by Robyn Hurder, Holly James, Reed Luplau and Jeigh Madjus who invite all with unrelenting enthusiasm to get their “Gitchie gitchie ya-ya da-da.” Drawn in by shameless huckster and famed Moulin Rouge nightclub impresario Harold Zidler (Burstein), Christian enters the club where he connects with painter Toulouse-Lautrec (Sahr Ngaujah) and the structurally endowed tango dancer Santiago (Ricky Rojas).
Declaring himself a songwriter, Christian tries to impress these sophisticates by speaking/singing in song lyrics from “I Don’t Want to Wait,” “Every Breath You Take,” and “Never Gonna Give You Up.” Once inside, this clean-cut kid gets mistaken for the worldly decadent Duke of Monroth (Tam Mutu in poured on black leather), a wealthy patron who desires the smoothly leonine Satine, the nightclub’s star. Played by Tony Award winner Karen Olivio (“West Side Story”), her sweet yet savvy seductress is both a sincere artist and crafty courtesan. Despite Satine’s cliched characterization, Olivo renders her lover duets with Christian convincingly — built out of the best contemporary songbooks — even as she pivots between her real love and the Duke who she has to keep at bay in ever ridiculous ways while he finances her show.
That means making a seamless shift between songs of such a wide range as “Diamonds,” a tricky mashup of Jule Styne and Leo Robin’s “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend;” “Material Girl,” by Peter Brown and Robert Rans; and Beyoncé’s mega hit “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).” It also turns a huge production number built around a single song like “Shut Up and Dance” into more of a straightforward performance. But thanks to inventive choreography, this dance corps carries off the elaborate maneuvers married with complex song re-inventions provides the best-of-Broadway muscularity.
If any Broadway production today demonstrates the possibilities to be found in a jukebox musical, this one does the trick. Thanks to the seamlessly interwoven numbers, the over-the-top machinations and sometimes silly but boho-ish story line, this show provides an illustration of how the live stage can be full of possibilities despite the limits of its physical dimensions.